7
Washtington,The Triskelion.
Looking out to the Hellicarriers as she and her family traveled in the elevator. Daisy stood silently, the elevator ascending up past the lower levels and out into the mid-morning weekend sun. The relief coming from the fluorescent lighting and the armoured machines downstairs caused Daisy to inhale a welcomed relieved breath, glad of being out of there, away from the sight of it all, unsure whether she could manage much longer down there.
Standing behind her, from left to right, Alexander Pierce and Caitlin Pierce observed Daisy.
“Are you alright FLower?” Pierce asked.
“Umm…” Daisy looked down at the floor and found herself squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. “Yeah, I’m fine Dad.”
Caitlin Pierce who had been almost as quiet as her sister, looked at her Father as she spoke. “Do you want to see more Daisy?”
“More…” Daisy turned around to them. Her tiny frame looking up at the two of them, like a small child, her face was shocked and her eyes wide open. “you have more…?”
“Yes.” Pierce nodded. “A lot more.”
Daisy swallowed and just looked at them.
The office of Alexander Pierce was located on the highest floor of The Triskelion, each floor was specialised and used for different purposes, the floor that Pierce was based was solely his own, meeting room, lounge and dinning area and even a place that, if needed Pierce could sleep. Only specialised members of Shield were given access to the floor, but only an more specialised number were granted access into his office. Stepping out of the elevator, both Caitlin and Pierce were cleared by their biometric identifies, which identified them quickly before Daisy had even noticed the female computerised voice granted them access and then identified her “Doctor Daisy Pierce” and told her she granted access.
Alexander Pierce laid the way, coming out of the elevator and turning a corner and walking down a corridor which was covered in small black and red Japanese inspired paintings and artwork, Daisy had a quick thought that the pictures were very much in the same taste she knew her Father liked. Behind Pierce, Daisy followed and then by Caitlin.As they came towards Pierce’s office, the door opened automatically for them.
Allowing Daisy first, he ushered her in. Walking into his office, Daisy looked around the room and stopped in the centre. The room was organised in a circler way, the desk being the most prominent part, being in the centre, turned to the south so that his desk had a view of the Washington skyline and the cityscape. Everything was either black or grey, with a small hint of red from the orchid, the photo frame, simple red large painting and slight red in the carpet, from which Daisy found herself standing the middle of a giant red circle, with black spirals around it, so that it looked similar, it reminded her of Islamic works of art she had seen. Daisy looked at it but couldn’t figure out where she had seen it.
From the doorway, Caitlin and her Father were talking quietly briefly. Daisy tried to hear something, but she knew that she was not meant to hear anything, for the briefest of seconds she thought she caught a word in German, but she couldn’t be sure.
Walking into his office, Pierce extended his hand to the chair nearest the desk and told his daughter to sit. Daisy did so and said nothing.
Her mind was still spiralling with thousands thoughts, she had tried to put logic to it all, try to think maybe what she had just seen wasn’t as drastic as her instincts had made it, of course Shield had always had weapons, they had needed them in times when unusual occurrences had happened, where protecting the security and safety of the public was most important, to claim she was ignorant of that fact would be a lie, as much as Daisy had never been a part of any military training or knowledge, she understood to maintain peace and security scare tactics had had to be used, such when she went into Warzones to help the most vulnerable and she was guarded and guilded by armoured soldiers, who weren’t there to kill anyone but to stop anymore killings by allowing medical help and assistance through, she knew that weapons that could kill weren’t always to be used but to be used just in case of any extreme circumstances.
Pierce leant against the edge his desk and stood in front of Daisy’s chair, he pushed his finger to lip and made a thinking hum noise.
“Daisy,” He started. “Do you know much about snakes?”
“Pardon?” She frowned looking at him, completely unsure of why her father was asking her that.
“Snakes, Princess.” Pierce replied. “One of the best and most efficient creatures in the world.”
“Okay…” Daisy replied.
“They can lay under ground for days, waiting.” Pierce said.
Looking at her Father with concern, not understanding why he was talking about snakes, hoping it was going to led to a metaphor (which her father metaphors and smilies were usually based around baseball or footballs games). “Waiting for what Dad?”
“To strike Princess.” Pierce said plainly.
Leaning over on his desk, Pierce flicked a tabs on a 3D screen and the wall opposite came to life with a projection of cluster of stars, blue, yellow, red and silver came to life before her, at first all still, before the image zoomed into one area particular area that Daisy could see as a formation faintly, that was circled and morphed around to show more clearly to her. “This is the constellation of Hydra, its was one of largest and most recognised constellation in all astrology, from Greek, Hindu, Chinese, Japanese, Cantonese, Egyptian have all written about what they think this constellation to signify. Some came close…but none understood Princess.”
The image in front of her twisted and turned over, an outlining of the shape of a snake or dragon, either in the design of Chinese art or Greek mythological design or Egyptian took shape, showing Daisy that the constellation had been an been absorbed into the different cultures and different ideas and stories created for it. This was an interesting fact, but not something that was new to Daisy, such things with stars were common. Looking at the image before her, she found herself being drawn to head of the image, tilting her head to look at it.
“Your mother used to love astrology y’know.” Pierce said as he looked at his daughter, arms crossed over his chest. “She used to love going to look at the sky through the telescope at Goldendale, she would stand there for hours and hours, it was one of the last places she wanted to go to before she died.”
Daisy turned around from the image and to look at her Father’s face, for the briefest of seconds he had a thoughtful look on his face, remembering past moments with his deceased wife, to a different times and to a different Alexander Piece.
Shaking his head, he unfolded his hands and flicked the panel on his desk and caused the image of the constellation to turn into sparkly display of stars, the image surfing over them towards what would be the head of so called Hydra snake of the image that Daisy had been drawn to. “A long time ago, a man wanted to use science to create a world that would existence under the perfect supervision and understanding of those that wanted the Human race to process further, better, to help sped up the evolutionally cycle so that human would go out into the Stars and be more than servants to ourselves and simple wait for a race to come and take over us again.”
Experience of her Father’s talks had told her that talking now would only cause what he was saying becoming confused, so Daisy kept quiet.
“That man was Johann Schmidt.” Alexander Pierce said. “He was known as Red Skull. The leader of Hydra.”
“Dad…” Daisy said, not being able to stay silent. “What had this got to with Snakes, Constellation and what you…”
She stopped then, staring up her Father then, looking at the man she admired most in the world, the man she only known to be caring and had worked for Shield longer then he had been alive working to protect the world and it people.
“…showed me earlier…” Daisy finished.
She looked back to the constellation of Stars which had now turned red, into a burning image before her of changed from the various feeble images of cultural differing Snakes into multiple sprayed flat image from the tail up towards where the Head where there was tentacles spread out from around the head, which was burning red skull shape, slowly but slightly the tentacle of the image moved.
“Hydra, Daisy.” Pierce told her. “I am finishing the work that Red Skull started 70years, but your sister and I have so much more planned.”
Looking away from the image and her Father, she looked outside the window to the impress view of Washington.
“Ashlesha…” Daisy thought outlaid. “My middle name…you always told me that it was because Mum wanted to gives us names to do with Stars. Caitlin…her middle is Bharani…”
“Yes…” Alexander Pierce smiled. “You are clever Daisy, I only have to tell you a few things and you already know.”
Sat there then Daisy and only wish at that moment she had stayed at home.